41. Top 7 Strategies for a Magical Disney World Vacation - Doc Episode

[00:00:00] Coming up, you might be hesitating planning your trip or maybe somebody is holding you back because they are anxious about a piece of Disney World planning that has them overwhelmed. We are going to break down the top 7 strategies we think will make your Disney trip not only more magical but way easier if you do it this way.

[00:00:19] Hey there everyone, welcome to another episode of the Moms Behind the Magic Podcast. I am your host Allie and I'm here this morning with Katie and with Becky and we are doing another dwarf in our special 7 series and I'm really excited to dig in. Of course before we do we're going to chat a little bit. How are you guys this morning? Doing good. Wow, you both had question marks at the end of that.

[00:00:42] It was an amazing Monday, but no, it's not a question mark. It was great. We went to Port Orleans and we talked about that on our last recording so I can't wait to update you on that part of my weekend. Well do it. Do it. Don't wait. Give us the update. Y'all the more time I spend at Port Orleans, the more I fall in love with Port Orleans. There are two sister resorts. They're two very different vibes, two different check-in locations, all of the things.

[00:01:05] But specifically on this weekend trip I was going to see the new royal rooms at Port Orleans Riverside and historically I have loved the royal rooms because it just feels like childhood. Like you get all of the princesses and all of the vibes and feels of even nods to like princes in ways. However, what I didn't like about those rooms historically is I don't like carpet in rooms. I think I'm traumatized from my grandma having carpet in her bathroom when I was growing up.

[00:01:33] I think that's really, I think that's really fair. And Katie, we've talked about, we've talked about carpet in the bathroom. I think it's fair because I did love that like magic carpet that was in the carpet. I thought that was so special, but let's paint it in the wood or something and move on because the carpet was very old, outdated. Yeah. Yeah. They've done that in pop century, right? They've made things look like they're in the floor that are not carpet that are going to be holding gross dirt.

[00:02:00] Like if you've ever used a carpet cleaner and see how much grime and grossness is in carpet, like just know. So having all like tile and wood type of flooring in it was fantastic. The tile is so detail oriented. Also, what else I didn't love about the old one is it felt very like living in a 1990s fever dream a little bit to me. I kind of loved that about it. It totally looked like a VHS cover.

[00:02:26] It does. Yes, it did. And so in this, in this space going, do I think that it is perfect? No, but do I think that it is a serious upgrade? Yes, I do. And it doesn't look like you're in a castle, but it feels like you're in a deluxe royal space that is dedicated to Tiana and Naveen. And in that way, Port Orleans is the perfect place for Tiana to get a space like that and still having the glowy headboards.

[00:02:52] Yes, they do glow. And yes, we did play with the headboards, if you will. Say less. Say less. The headboards have twinkly like fireflies that light up and they dim. But the bayou in the headboard looks like you get a daytime view that is beautiful and then it like dims and becomes a firefly, beautiful, sparkly headboard. And is it fireworks? No. But is it magic? Yes. And it's like nothing else in any other Disney room that I've ever been in.

[00:03:22] I would go stay there again. And it was just adults. Like it wasn't even for a kid's weekend. So yeah. Okay. But Disney, give me back an Aladdin's lamp faucet somewhere. Yes. That's what I'm saying. It's not perfect. I do think, Katie, like a lot of your morning was over that faucet and fair. I want the stupid faucet. Honestly, fair.

[00:03:43] I live really close to that like antique shop where they get a lot of those things and I have seen it over there and I'm like, I should just buy it for my house. Why are you kidding you? Why did you buy it? They're still very expensive. Oh my gosh. That's like, I bet how I got my chair. I talked about my grand flirting chair. Same thing. Oh my gosh. You have to buy that. You have to buy that. Maybe I'll meander over to the antique mall in Lakeland today and see what it looks like.

[00:04:10] Yeah. You, I feel like have to own that and I think it'll peel a piece of you. Well, that makes me really, that makes me really happy because we did, I mean, spoiler alert, if you haven't gone back and listened, we were a little wishy-washy because Becky, you were ahead of that experience on our sleepy episode. That makes me feel really good about ultimately where all of that landed. So I was excited to hear your review and the second that you stepped into that room, you started texting and saying, this is amazing. I love it. I'm in love. This is so good.

[00:04:37] It feels like a deluxe room. Like it, the detail elements are very similar to like the undertoned, but very there elements of some of the deluxe rooms. Yeah. I think now that we see the update, now that you've experienced it, we've experienced it through you.

[00:04:53] A lot of what we were mourning and what we were sad about, it kind of upon reflection is a little fever dreamish or gross or, you know, we were thinking it was this incredible space and now we're like, it really probably did need these updates. This is probably a good move. We're softening toward it. We are. Well, the other spaces, they really still are missing the mark to not have that be a fifth sleeper. Their space. Yes. They could have easily made that a fifth sleeper. We went to all the trouble to renovate those rooms and not put in a fifth sleeper.

[00:05:22] Just silly. Truly. It's silly. Yeah. It's so, it just excludes so many. It excludes every single one of us with our immediate family. And so that is crazy. So I don't know. But that's a good review. Well, I sound raspy this morning because I spent the weekend at Pop Century with a lot of our friends at the getaway club. We had a fabulous weekend. I may have ridden Space Mountain for the first time in a long time and I may have screamed too much and my voice may be recovering from that.

[00:05:51] Do you have that list? Do you have that list of lounges pulled up that you all went to? Because I didn't get to go. It was so sad. But the lounge list made me laugh so much. Yeah. So we were doing like an adults only trip and a lot of our friends had never gone to any Disney lounges before. And so we had a very focused intention. So it was a really fun trip. I mean, it never got out of hand or anything, but it was just, it was really fun to go and experience that.

[00:06:19] And a good opportunity to resort hop. Sorry, I'm going to look for that list. I found it. Read it, Becky. Read the list. Abracadabra, Cake Bake for Champagne, Bar Riva, Trader Sam's, Enchanted Rose, Steakhouse 71 Lounge, and then had Bottomless Sangria at Hoop-dee-doo Review, Territory Lounge, Geo 82, and Beacon Barrel. Yeah. World Tour. World Tour. World Tour. Yeah. I think you only missed Scat Cat, honestly.

[00:06:47] Yeah. And I was like, guys, you want to go do that? And Disney Springs. Animal Kingdom Lounge. Yeah. Animal Kingdom. No, you're right. You're right. You're right. And Disney Springs and stuff. But that's really so fun. It was such a great time. I was really jealous that I wasn't there. But everybody liked Trader Sam's the most. And last time we talked about this on the podcast, I was really torn. I learned something about myself. I was so torn on if I should consider Enchanted Rose or Trader Sam's the best. I remember that specific issue in my mind.

[00:07:15] And as soon as you told me that everybody preferred Trader Sam's over everything, I was like angry a little bit. And so I learned that Trader Sam's is no longer in the running to be my favorite. They told you something without telling you something. That's right. Well, that's wild. I was butt hurt for the other stuff. Yeah. That's wild because Trader Sam's is the best. It was so much fun. Yeah, it is so much fun.

[00:07:38] Guys, I got a Nautilus. For our listeners that don't, I'm kind of a sturdy woman, okay? I'm approaching six foot, right? Like, I got a Nautilus for myself. We are getting t-shirts immediately that say I'm a sturdy woman. I am a sturdy woman. I'm not afraid to say it, you know? I'm a sturdy woman and I got a Nautilus for myself and those are meant to be shareable. And let's just say it was a really fun afternoon.

[00:08:06] Well, it was apparently a really great weekend at Disney for the podcast people who were there because we went to two lounges as well. We went to River Roost, which was brand new for us at Riverside, Port Orleans, Riverside. Have you all been there? I have not. I've walked by, but I haven't been. During the day, it's kind of just a place to sit and you can get a drink and whatever. But on specifically, I believe Thursday to Sunday nights, they have this live entertainment and it is the same guy every time. His name is Bob. He's this old guy, larger than life personality.

[00:08:36] He plays a piano that rocks. He sings Disney and nostalgic like childhood songs. He's standing up. He's sitting down. He's walking through the audience. He literally spent the hour before the show going around and talking to every single table throughout the lounge. Then he gets up there and we sing happy birthday to every single person that he captured along the way. And he remembered all of these people's names and their birthdays. It was phenomenal.

[00:09:01] Sean was nervous because this is like, he's going to be really mad at me for telling people this, but he doesn't really like old people. He struggles with old people. You can't say that. You can't say that. You can't say that. I know you can't say that. He struggles with spending time with old people. With the elderly. Okay. I'm going to get canceled. I'm so sorry. I'm like, what happens when you are an elderly person? Men what? What happens when I'm an elderly person? I don't know. What's going to happen? I don't know. This is... It probably needs some work on that.

[00:09:32] Probably. When Bob came out, he's like, are we staying for this? And I'm like, yeah, just please let me experience this. I've done research. I want to be here. I want to see this. I want to capture all of the Disney things. So he starts performing. And I have video, y'all. Like Sean's like cheesing, smiling so hard because it is so incredibly fun. And there are kids there. There are couples there. I may have had a couple too many drinks and I may have been texting you all.

[00:09:59] Then we went to Scott Katz and had beignets delivered to us while we listened to jazz music. So give me a lounge. Give me a lounge with live music. Port Orleans has two of them that have fantastic live music at nighttime. Good stuff. Listen to this. For our dance studio, we have these two big intense weeks that we have in the summer. Otherwise, our kids are mostly off. They do a lot of traveling and training and things like that. But we have two in-house week-long workshops where it's classes sunup to sundown.

[00:10:27] And the faculty is friends of ours and master teachers from all over the country. They fly in. They all stay with us. You know, my kids give up their bedrooms. They're sleeping in my room and in each other's loft beds, whatever. So each night, we need to entertain our friends and faculty and take them to nice dinners and things like that. Tonight, we're doing a basically tour of Cincinnati in some of our best spots. But last night, we wanted to find a fun activity. And one of the big rules was you had to be sober to do it. So completely different than the context and conversation that we're just having.

[00:10:57] Do you know what we did? I sent you a picture before we started. It looked a little bit like a roller skating rink or... I don't know. That kind of vibed me, but I don't know. We were not sober skating. No. Is this a rage room? Yes. Oh my gosh. We went to a rage room. That's great. And it was one of the most bizarre things I've ever done. We had to put on jumpsuits, like very thick jumpsuits, rubber boots, gloves, hard hats,

[00:11:27] ear things, like glasses and visors, fully protected. And then they didn't allow any music in the rage room because they said somebody previously had smashed the speakers. And so... Wow. We got too ragey in the rage room. Okay. And they basically put these crates of glass and a TV in your room and you just take some bats and go to town. It was one of the weirdest things I've ever done. The first time it's your turn, it was really fun. And then I think kind of as it was more your turn, you're like, well, I've already done it.

[00:11:55] And I said I wasn't feeling particularly ragey upon entering. And so maybe if I was in the heat of a moment and I really needed to go throw some glass, it would have been 10 out of 10. A few months back, that rage room would have really come in handy. Maybe. Yeah. And there were definitely some nods to that. And people thought maybe I was having visions. And we had a great time because my company was great.

[00:12:25] And of all of the things you could do, my favorite was throwing the glass jars. That was really cathartic. Yeah. Yes. I kind of gave it a five out of 10. Said I would probably not do it again unless I was really feeling ragey. But it was a fun experience. You know, now I can say I've done it. You need to do it whenever we're back in town because we all have communal rage together. But that's the thing. It's like in that moment, I wasn't... I was... My baseline anymore is so here. It's just mid. Some of my friends were harboring maybe some more rage.

[00:12:53] So I had a lot of fun screaming for them. And it was interesting. It sounds like... But it was fun to do. It was a fun experience. Unique. Yeah. And I think that maybe is also the same kind of feeling that I have about Trader Sam's. I, too, love Trader Sam's. However, I feel like Trader Sam's is great the first time. And I think we've talked about this on the podcast. Right. It's like watching The Hangover for the first time. Yeah. Yes. And every time after that, it's... You know what to expect. And so that wow piece is different. I wouldn't say bad at all.

[00:13:23] It's just different. But Katie... Well, I had a great time. I'm sure you did. Katie gets the Nautilus. So really, that's... I did actually buy it to bring it home this time. So that was a lot of fun. I'm going to make it into like a succulent planter or something. How did you know that this picture was a rage room, Katie? Like this did not scream rage room to me. I mean, I guess I can see now. I put gray paint in the back. I was like, oh, that's a rage room. Maybe we share this picture. It looks to me like a 1990s skate, like our skating rink. It looked like that.

[00:13:53] No. Like on the other side of that... Yeah, it did look like that. On the other side of that wall was a massive like go-kart track. Oh. And the place was really quite gross, honestly. That's what your skating rinks look like? Is that? Like I'm picturing like disco ball. Oh, yeah. Did you skate in the 70s? Were you skating in the 70s? No. No, like, but every skating rink has a disco ball. I mean, come on. I don't know. Ours had walls around the outside that were spray painted just like that. Yeah, same.

[00:14:22] The rollerina was pretty spray painted. If I say the word bowling alley and you think back to our like childhood and going to people's birthday parties, you picture the neon and like the stupid graphics and you know exactly what the carpet looks like. You know what I mean? And there's, that's very much also a roller rink thing from the 90s. Fair enough. Listen, we're gonna, we're gonna put a cap on this and we're gonna transition here because I'm very excited to dig in today and speak on another dwarf.

[00:14:52] We are covering Doc today and we are going to be covering seven topics that are going to affect your Disney planning, specific strategies and tips to make your vacation as magical as possible. We've kind of broken it down into seven categories where it's important you have the best strategy. And I'm really excited because if you really take this advice in all of these categories, I really think this is gonna be as good as it gets for you on your vacation. But before we do, I have the first number one best tip.

[00:15:20] If you have little ones, you already know the hardest part is not always getting to your vacation destination, flying to Disney World, driving to Disney World or wherever it is you're going. Getting there isn't really the hardest part. Ahead of arrival when you're packing everything and you're bringing all the things that make your kiddos feel like you're at home, that becomes the hardest part. And that is why we here on the podcast and me and my family fell in love with BabyQuip. They're the number one baby gear rental service across the US, Canada and beyond.

[00:15:49] Every single trip, y'all, I tell myself we are going to pack less. We're not gonna bring as much. We do not need as much. And then every single trip, my kiddos decide the thing we left behind is the thing, of course, that they need. This is why we need BabyQuip because between crips, strollers, toys, it felt like we were always packing our entire house. This way your kids will have every single thing that they need. When we didn't bring our things, nobody slept. Everything was off about our routine. Everything that was supposed to be relaxing about our vacation became a lot more stressful.

[00:16:17] This is where BabyQuip became the game changer. Instead of hauling our bulky baby gear through the airport, we would just have everything waiting for us upon arrival. They rent crips, strollers, car seats, toys, baby gear, beach gear, even pet gear if you're traveling with your furry friends. Everything is delivered right to your hotel, Airbnb or vacation rental, wherever you're calling home for the week. And the best part is that when you are renting from BabyQuip, you are renting from local quality providers.

[00:16:43] Often this is moms, dads, grandparents, people who are just like us who truly understand what traveling as a family means and what it means to your kiddos to have the things that they are used to. Every item follows strict cleanliness and safety standards and is ensured so that you can spend less time worrying about forgotten gear and more time making the memories you set out to make in the first place. They're available in more than 2,000 cities. So whether you're heading to Disney, the beach, or visiting family, visit babyquip.com.

[00:17:09] Use code MAGIC for $30 off of any order of $150 or more. That's babyquip.com. Code MAGIC. Pack light. Travel happy. That's one good tip. Do we count that in our sevens? I think it falls under one of the sevens, honestly. Can't wait to talk about all seven of these items. Yeah, and I think when people are planning, these are seven areas that cause pre-trip and planning anxiety. And so breaking them down and highlighting the best, you know, I'm super anxious about X, Y, and Z.

[00:17:38] And we can say, well, follow this single strategy and this thing is going to become less stressful. That's kind of the focus of today. Yep. Should we dive in? Yeah. All right. Should we dig in? Hi-ho. Here we go. Mm-hmm. Number one topic we are going to discuss today, schedule strategies. Mm-hmm. People stressed about traveling to Disney World and, you know, I have a family right now that I'm planning with. They only have one kiddo, but they've never been.

[00:18:04] And she keeps saying things to me like, we cannot get up early in the morning and stay all the way until nighttime. Do you think if we go in the morning, we'll just leave the parks at six and that'll be good? And of course, I'm saying you're going to miss so much. You can't leave at six and never return. And so we're trying to talk about what does it look like to enjoy your park day when you're stressed about sunup to sundown? And if that doesn't work for your family, what does that look like? So for those families that are stressed about the schedule, the long hours and the exhaustion, what do we recommend? What is our number one tip here?

[00:18:34] For me, the number one tip is let your family's needs be the driver of how your day is structured or even how your week is structured because we could be talking about two different things with scheduling. How are you laying out your week or your time that you're at Disney? And also, how are you laying out your day? And the answer cannot be just like a one size fits all for everyone because there are people who can really do rope drop to park clothes. Park warriors is probably what we would kind of refer to those families as. And then there are people who absolutely cannot and should not try to do that.

[00:19:03] If you know your kids are going to be hangry and tired, do not ruin your evening by making them battle through the entirety of the day or wake them up if you know that they're not mourning people. Like really lean into what kind of family and what kind of dynamics your kiddos really need to be at their best self. Yeah, I agree. If you're traveling, especially with little ones, it's always like when do we get in a nap? Like they're really regimented. They won't take a nap in a stroller, right?

[00:19:31] Like I think whenever you're in the heat of Florida and you're the overstimulation of Disney, you might be surprised how willing your kid is to take a stroller nap. I was going to say you might be surprised how quickly a child can fall asleep in a stroller. Yes, absolutely. This is not norm. I mean cotton candy in hand in a mid bite and just suck to their face. Yes, exactly. I just think especially as it relates to traveling with little kids, if that's your scenario,

[00:20:00] it can't be we're chasing down the lowest wait times across the park. Your pace of your entire trip has to be we're just going to slow down and we're going to lean into what does our family need in this moment? And I think you'll have a much better time if you do that. Even on that first trip when they were really little still. I planned like if we're going to go to Mickey's Not So Scary tonight, we are going to do a nap today from like two to four. And so we did come back to the room. My kids were like, Mom, why are we leaving the park?

[00:20:28] And I'm like, you are going to take a nap. Right. Yeah. And it was great. They stayed up through the party. You know, what's interesting is if you don't make your kids and this may just be for my kids, if you don't make your kids take a nap and I never actually did at Disney when they were little. We never left the parks. We were the family that was fall asleep in the stroller and that's going to be your nap. And if it's short or if it's multiple, the thing is, is they usually could make it through the day or probably always made it through the day. But then that exhaustion catches up with you later.

[00:20:56] You know, you pay that price the next day or even two days from then when that exhaustion just really starts to compound. My issue when I was a younger mom taking younger kids was I had park FOMO. I always thought we can't leave the park in the middle of the day because we're not there, you know, and this is our part. And I had a really hard time getting over that. And I also just thought my kids won't sleep if we go back to the resort. We're just going to go back and we're going to be hanging out in the room and nobody's going to fall asleep. It's going to be a big waste of time and we're going to be irritated. And so we never did it.

[00:21:26] And I think hindsight, my advice might be to push yourself to at least take the stimulus away for a little bit, even if they don't fall asleep. Yes. Yeah. That was my exact thought as well is I never told the kids they were going to go back and take we're going to go back and have a little bit of downtime. And I never told them they had to fall asleep, but I told them that they did need to lay down and rest. And inevitably the overstimulation of the colors and the sounds and the sights and the smells and everything is so much that they always fell asleep. Right.

[00:21:54] And once they fell asleep, even Sean would fall asleep for a good hour or two. I can't take naps in the middle of the day. Maybe at this point I could, but back then I was always like, okay, what do we want to do for their second half of the day? So then I went into strategizing mode while they were decompressing and kind of resetting. And doesn't that sound amazing? They do. I don't think it's just for littles though. I think midday breaks are amazing. If that were my family today, I would brew another pot of coffee or a cup of coffee, whatever we've got going on in our room. And I would head out on the balcony and undoubtedly have a view of some kind and just take, that

[00:22:24] would be my moment away, you know? And I think that would be my, when it comes to schedule strategy, I think the number one thing for families to remember is to listen and follow the lead of your family. Do not be forceful, you know, in the ways that I probably was. And take a break, take a break so that you don't pay for it in two days. Cause you may make it through today, but in two days things might look different. I want to build on that just a little bit, Allie, cause that's exactly what you said. You're like, if you, your tiredness is going to compound.

[00:22:51] And we were even talking about this on our trip at Pop Century this weekend. We were like, this is why we say, you know, plan a rest day, maybe every third day of your trip or so because we had a pretty laid back trip and I was still tired. I needed a day to recover. Yeah. I, yeah, I don't doubt it. Gosh, is it such a cop out to say my strategy for schedule stress is stop stressing, you know, follow the lead of the family.

[00:23:18] You have to accept ahead of a trip that you are not going to see and do everything. Even at the top of this episode, Becky said, have you all been to this bar? And we had not. And so how many times have we been, how many times have we done different lounges and we haven't done that one? You can't do everything. There are rides I haven't done. There are characters I have not met. There are spaces I have not walked in and it's okay. It's okay. It's not designed to see it all at once. I think less is more when it comes to scheduling.

[00:23:44] Have some very intentional things within your day, things you, your must do, and then some nice to do and anything else is great to add on top of that. And then I think you should also mimic your time at Disney for the whole time you're there in a similar way as you would the day, right? Start with something exciting. Give yourself a rest in the middle to kind of recharge because if you are running from sunup to sundown from the moment you get there till the moment you leave, you are going to go back to life and not feel like you had a vacation at all. You will be exhausted.

[00:24:13] So give yourself that space to slow down, but make sure you're going in with the schedule, some intention on what things are your must do's throughout the full day and the full time as a whole. Yes. Okay. That sounds great. Should we go into number two here? Yes, please. All right. Number two, resort strategies. Ways to what? What do you think is the most important here? Because mostly when it comes to resort, I think that just immediately prompts the thought process of dollar signs.

[00:24:41] Immediately people are just thinking it's expensive. What is it going to cost me? It's out of my budget. I think that's as soon as you say that, that's probably the snowball that happens for most. And there are ways to strategize against that. And I think my favorite one that a lot of people do not ever consider is a split stay. And I think people don't even realize what a split stay is or why it can be valuable. And we don't talk about it a ton here on the podcast. Correct.

[00:25:08] So one way a split stay can be a great strategy is if there is a resort you want to experience, you don't have to spend your whole trip there. If you are the person that thinks the resort is only going to be a place where we lay our head, please stay at the least expensive option throughout that portion of your trip. Right? Do four solid days at any resort. Also music. It's great. It's lively. It's fun. We all know Becky loves it from last week. And we can really enjoy that.

[00:25:36] And then at the end of your trip, spend a single night at the Grand Floridian and don't do any parks. Just go and be there and experience it. And you may be surprised even under promo. I mean, Grand Floridian can become in reach with a promo in a single night. Right? And so we talk about these resorts all of the time. And we sometimes say, I know it's this one feels really, really far away. Like it's hard to actually get there. But there are ways to make it happen. And they're very worth considering.

[00:26:05] Yeah, there absolutely are. Put some strategy behind that. Talk with a travel agent. Like if you don't have one, we on this podcast are travel agents or we support an entire industry of travel agents who can help you with this planning. And in this way, travel agents can help you strategize. One, do not put a deluxe resort stay. Don't go stay at the Grand Floridian and then move to All-Star Music. You will regret that choice. Don't do it. But starting at All-Star and then moving to a moderate or a deluxe for a night or two

[00:26:32] at the end of your stay could be the most magical ending to a really, really great adventure at Disney. I want to say one more thing regarding really strong strategy. And this is pro-level planning. So for Doc, I think it's really important. And when you said plan accordingly. When we say that, there are factors you have to consider. The transportation that's going into your plan. And you can even look at a calendar and try to map out trends for maybe when extended evening hours are going to be for a deluxe resort.

[00:26:58] So you could do three or four nights at, let's say, a standard room at Pop Century. That's going to be the least expensive room you can get on this Skyliner. You can then utilize the Skyliner for your Hollywood studios in Epcot and even Animal Kingdom days because for Animal Kingdom, you're taking the bus no matter where you're staying. So use it. Use that day no matter where you're staying, right? Try to map it. See if you can line it up, if your dates work, that you get extended evening hours at Magic Kingdom on maybe the day you switch to, I don't know, let's say, the Garden Wing at Contemporary. Because now you're getting deluxe.

[00:27:28] You are getting extended evening hours at Magic Kingdom. So you're maximizing that time. And then the next day when you wake up, well, you can walk back from Magic Kingdom after those late hours. And then the next day when you wake up, you're at a deluxe resort. You are at a deluxe pool. You're in deluxe surroundings. Golden's Lodge would be a great option for something like this. The high level strategies you can put into play so that you can experience a relaxing resort, say at Disney World. It does not have to be six nights at the Wilderness Lodge. It just doesn't. It really doesn't.

[00:27:58] And adding on to that even, Allie, you're talking about those end of day or end of deluxe hours. Also, if you have a party, if you have a party at Magic Kingdom, the difference if you are staying at one of those Magic Kingdom resorts is a huge impact on your lasting memories of how the party ended. Because walking to the garden room at the Contemporary or hopping on a boat over to the Polynesian is a very different ending than getting in line for a bus corral or the monorail to go back to your car. Those are just two very different endings to your party time.

[00:28:27] Absolutely. I want to say, too, whenever it comes to strategizing with... Sorry. I think we were talking the same time. You're adding an hour coming from a party to Pop Century. Maybe another hour to get back to your resort. Honestly. Truly. Yeah. We were three buses worth of people deep in the bus corral for Pop. Yeah. Yeah. But actually, what I was going to say is the other thing that you can strategize with a split stay especially is there are certain times of the year or certain times when Disney

[00:28:57] does a perk or a promo where you can get free water park access on check-in day. So that means if you're doing a split stay, you are getting both of those. So you get one whenever you check in to your first resort and another one when you check into your second resort. That's a really good budgeting tip in and of itself, too. If you're like, I don't think I can budget more park days and your water park people go to the water park on both of those days. Again, it's not going to be available year round or anything anymore.

[00:29:25] That was kind of a 2025 thing. We have seen them bring it back for summer of 2026 and there's rumors that it's coming back for summer of 2027. But if that's something that's another perk in your bag, take advantage of it. Yeah. Because then in that case, maybe it's two nights you add on with a good promo for a deluxe resort. And you're getting, you know, at best with good strategy, you're getting potentially extended evening hours, potentially another free water park day. And then after your second night, so now you've done all that.

[00:29:53] And then after your second night, you're getting this pool day at somewhere unbelievably beautiful and serene, right? So with good strategies, you're leveling up your vacation and maybe it's not costing you this exorbitant amount that you thought you could ever reach. Yes. And I want to talk just a minute too about water parks. So my family are water parks people. Becky, I know you love a water park. We were just there. We went to Blizzard Beach this weekend. It was amazing. Oh, awesome. Yeah.

[00:30:19] So there's an option for your tickets called the water parks and sports option. And not a lot of guests are aware of it, but this is a really good way to get a lot of value out of a ticket as well. So if you buy four day water park and sports tickets, you're getting entries to the theme parks for four days and you're getting entries to the water parks for four days. That's, you could basically make that like an eight day ticket. If you were like, we're going to go to the water park every other day, you could really

[00:30:48] ring out the value with that as well. I do think split stays is probably among the best, especially like a hidden thing that isn't in your face aware. Something else I do like to consider when we're thinking about resorts though, is what does, what really does matter to your family? Because value versus moderate versus deluxe are three very different experiences. They are all magic and all of them are an elevated experience compared to staying off site. Truly. We can't say that loud enough.

[00:31:15] Like being in the Disney bubble is truly a difference maker for your family. And there's typically a price tag that can get pretty much everyone into the bubble. But if you are a park warrior and you're there from sunup to sundown, and it doesn't matter what dining, what pool, what transportation, if none of that matters, value might be the right fit for your family. If you've been saving and saving and saving and Disney isn't going to be an easy thing for your family, value might be the thing that gets you there. However, if you're a family who wants to go and sit in a hot tub at the end of

[00:31:45] your night, do not put your family at a value resort. But moderates will have them. And like water slides, water slides are actually a big factor for my family because I've talked a lot at length about how my kids are thrill seekers and having a water slide on the pool day actually really does matter for us. They spend hours going down the slide. They came up with so many different games and we were just staying at the Riviera earlier this summer. They came up with games and, and speed tricks and all kinds of, yeah, they were testing different

[00:32:13] body positions to go and it kept them entertained for hours. And I think, you know, maybe if you're not, maybe if you've never had one, it would matter less, but my family would miss it. For sure. And when we were pulling up to Port Orleans just this last weekend, I realized we were pulling up and there was no valet parking. And that's not something that necessarily bothers me, but I do know that there are people who, when they vacation, expect to pull up and have a valet take their car for them.

[00:32:37] If those kinds of things matter to your family, just be aware that Disney has something for everyone and finding the right resort based on what those individual needs for your family are. Yeah. Okay. Those are really good tips. There's a great way to pick your resort and it's not only the price tag. There are ways to strategize the price tag. I really believe that. Okay. Number three, transportation strategies. Well, first I kind of touched this when I said plan your park days accordingly.

[00:33:06] You know, Becky, to your point, you just said if your family's park warriors, maybe you don't spend a lot of money on the resort. However, if you're park warriors, there's a high chance you have park hoppers. And if you are going to do a high level, high impact park focus trip that's visiting multiple parks, maybe even multiple parks in the day, I am going to suggest that you don't just stay somewhere that's bus only. I am going to say that it matters to maybe get on that Skyliner so that going between parks and getting back to your resort is quicker, easier, and more efficient.

[00:33:35] But I think that the number one strategy here, right? We all know about the Disney transportation. We've talked a lot about the boats going, the monorail line, how it impacts your trip and all of that. And we even just touched on it with split stays and planning accordingly. I think a lot of families assume they're just going to Uber to the parks or drive to the parks. I get a lot of families saying, oh, we'll have our car. We're just going to drive to the parks. Don't drive to Magic Kingdom, y'all. Do not do it. Never drive to Magic Kingdom. Never.

[00:34:03] I do not drive to Magic Kingdom and do not think you are going to take an Uber or a Lyft to Magic Kingdom. You are not going to be at Magic Kingdom. You're basically going to be at the Polynesian. You know? Yep. You're actually going to go to the tickets to transportation center. And the reason I said that is because it's directly next door to the Polynesian. But you're going to be taken to a different location that is not Magic Kingdom. And transportation in general takes longer than you think. If you're staying at All-Star Movies, which is a great choice, and you Uber yourself to

[00:34:32] Magic Kingdom, and you're a family that thinks you're going to be dropped off at the gates of Magic Kingdom or close enough that you just walk up, what do you think the actual time from ordering your Uber to scanning into Magic Kingdom, what do you think that actually would be? We've kind of tested this in a way. I took the bus to get to Magic Kingdom. Sean wanted to bring the car so we didn't have to go back to our resort to go home at the end of our trip. I was in the park in about 18 minutes from All-Star to scanning into Magic Kingdom.

[00:35:00] He took about 47 minutes to drive his car to the parking lot, get on the tram to get over to the TTC, get on a monorail or a bus to get over. Sorry. Or a boat. Boat. Or a boat to get over to Magic Kingdom. It was almost three times longer for him. Yes. So I was sitting outside of Magic Kingdom like, I wonder when he's going to get here. I'm watching him on my Find My iPhone tracker. Like, come on.

[00:35:24] I would say rule of thumb is that transportation, you should always budget like an hour to get from place to place. If you're in one park and you have a dining reservation across Disney World, give yourself an hour to get there. That's a really good pro tip for transportation is give yourself an hour always. Yeah. I mean, so much can go wrong. You could be just missing the bus that pulled out and now you got to wait another 20 minutes for the next bus. Plus the time it takes to get there, the time it takes to go through security.

[00:35:52] If you're going through security, you need to take out your umbrella. You need to take out your glasses case. Don't be that friend in the lineup that's like, I didn't take my stuff out and now I'm going to be stopped by security to go through a more intensive process. It does take so much time just to get through the gate. Yeah. And I'm going to say there is a service called minivan, like mini mouse, which is adorable. And it is powered through Lyft. It's straight through the Lyft app.

[00:36:19] It is five times more expensive than just a typical Lyft. So I would say pick a very important time or a very strategic time in which you want to take a minivan, but do not plan on taking it all the time because it's easily, you know, where, where a typical ride may cost eight bucks. This ride would cost 60, you know, truly it's that much more expensive, but this is the only option that will drop you off at the bus corral at Magic Kingdom. Yes.

[00:36:47] So the way that we have strategized this personally as a family is we like to go, like if we get a Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique reservation, we want to be one of the very first ones of the day. My kids want the whole day to be dressed up as a princess and really enjoy their makeover and everything. So that's usually, we're, we're sacrificing rope dropping rides so we can be like one of the first appointments at BBB, right? And if you're one of the first appointments at Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique, you are not taking

[00:37:14] that bus to Magic Kingdom and it's, it's not going to work out time-wise. So we got a minivan that just drops you off right at the gate. And I was like, I have so much peace of mind. We're going to make it to our appointment on time. Like it was, it was so pivotal in making sure all the rest of the day lined up. So it was definitely worth the splurge. Yeah. I think you pick a time where minivan is worth the splurge and that's my best tip. You know, know your map, know what your quickest way is. Give yourself an hour and find a really premium time.

[00:37:45] My most premium time was when I got really sick with y'all in the parks. Yeah. So sick. I needed back to my tree house, which is why we were saying I needed back so fast. And so I ordered a minivan and paid a terrible amount of money because I needed out. And, but I'll tell you what, it picked me up at the front of the park and it got me to my tree house and it happened so quickly. Whereas typically transportation takes a long time. I don't think it's wise to assume you're going to be Ubering or lifting everywhere. And I don't think it's wise to think you can take a minivan everywhere because Uber and lift is not as convenient as you may think.

[00:38:14] And minivan is more expensive than most should be paying when transportation is complimentary. Absolutely. I think there is another transportation strategy that you should be thinking about. And that's getting around Disney World in general, especially if it's not just the parks, the buses are going to take you right there. But if you have a dining reservation at another resort, for example, just pre-plan in your mind and maybe even sketch it out. I need to get from, let's say we're staying at Pop Century and you're going to go to have

[00:38:42] a great mill at Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge. You can't take a bus from Pop Century to Animal Kingdom Lodge. You would have to say bus to somewhere, Animal Kingdom Park maybe, and then another transfer to a bus to get you to Animal Kingdom Lodge. In that case, if it's going to take two forms of transportation, just consider investing in an Uber or Lyft ride. It's going to save you so much time. And those couple bucks, I mean, for that one, probably 10 to 15 bucks to get you across

[00:39:10] the resort, but the amount of time you save, time is valuable in this case as well. People think so much about the money investment in a trip and you're forfeiting or you're not looking at the time investment. Time is money. Like sometimes paying for the convenience of, I just saved myself an hour and a half in free transportation is absolutely worth it. And that applies whenever it's, should I get the Lyft or the minivan?

[00:39:36] And that applies when it's, you know, should I be staying at a resort that is closer to the park I'm going to be spending more time at? Is it worth the investment to stay at Beach Club if we're going to be spending three days at Epcot? Probably. Yeah, absolutely. Right. Yeah. Okay. That feels good. I just think knowing your map is really important, you know, and to Becky's point, if it's going to take two forms of transportation, what does that actually look like? Because honestly, if you have a Chef Mickey's reservation, it's pretty easy to take transportation to Magic Kingdom and then walk over. That's easy.

[00:40:06] Technically, that's two forms of transportation, right? A bus, boat or monorail, however you're getting magic, and then walking. But it's easy. So understanding where things are in relation to one another and how hard is it to take these two forms of transportation and do we have that time? And then picking a premium time to go in a minivan. Yes, please. Everybody should experience a minivan if you can fit it in your budget. It's so fun. They have two car seats also, just FYI. They come equipped with two car seats and a cast member driver who knows how to properly

[00:40:36] install them. And it's very safe and secure. So it's fun. And it's adorable. And they're painted like Minnie Mouse. Oh, and also pro tip. If you're staying in a deluxe resort, you can have a minivan pick you up. You can schedule to have a minivan actually pick you up from the airport. It's a premium service, but it's really, really fun. Okay. Ride strategies. This is probably the most important one to most of our M&Ms. I really think most people are stressed about rides. And this, honestly, there are a few things we need to cover when it comes to ride strategies.

[00:41:05] But honestly, this all comes down to Lightning Lane and understanding Lightning Lane, in my opinion. Agreed. It's going to be a make or break on how your ride experience will be. Make the investment. Yes. What would you all say is the number one Lightning Lane choice per park? We're talking multi-pass? And to Becky's point, multi-pass is the service that covers lots of rides within each park. Single-pass is a service that you buy one attraction. So there are two different products.

[00:41:32] Magic Kingdom, it's going to be very family specific because if you want to ride Peter Pan, Peter Pan is absolutely a valid use of a number one. That's not for my family. We aren't using our number one on Peter Pan. I would probably choose Tiana's for mine. But there's other options. Again, if you don't like drop rides or if you don't like water rides, very specific in that case. Let me think on the other parks. You know, when I think about this question personally, the only thing that really comes to mind is just Slinky Dog Dash. Slinky Dog.

[00:42:02] Yeah. I'm like, you have to get that or you won't get it most likely on your park day. It's going to go away. It's so prime and premium. And it should be a single pass, honestly, with how popular it is and how quickly it goes away. I think it makes more sense, maybe, than Rise of the Resistance at this point. You know, I don't know that Rise would go as quickly as Slinky does. I think that's a fair assessment, too. Yeah. I really do feel like in the other parks, the number one pick is just whatever's your family priority.

[00:42:28] You know, I don't know that there's this beacon pick at the other parks. You know, between Ratatouille and Frozen, one's going to sell out at Epcot. So those, I think, would be my next strategy of knowing where to prioritize your mind. But I think the best lightning lane strategy for Hollywood Studios especially, but really for every park, you should be in your top three picks. So you get it. There's different tiers of rides, right? And there are certain tier one attractions in every park and there are tier two attractions

[00:42:58] in every park. And in your pre-select phase ahead of your vacation, which is seven days ahead of arrival for on-site guests and three days ahead of arrival for off-site guests, you can pick one tier one and two tier two. A really good tip because the tier system goes away once you actively start using lightning lanes in the parks is to pick your top tier one and pick a really strong opinion tier two, but then grab the earliest time that you see for like any tier two attraction. Because as soon as you scan in, even if you don't want to ride that, but if you can get

[00:43:28] like a park open time for some throwaway attraction, Pixar shorts at Epcot, you can immediately pick something else. So, you know, grab Ratatouille and while you're over there, scan in for the Pixar shorts and then immediately try to grab Frozen. And that's how you're going to be able to get both because the tier system goes away. So you can start picking tier ones. So really high level strategy like that, you know, rather than picking two tier twos that happen way later in the day and now you're just kind of waiting and your tier ones are

[00:43:55] going to sell out, be really a high level strategist when it comes to selecting your tiers and your time. I think that is honestly perfect. And no matter when you're booking your lightning lanes, just highly prioritizing, you probably should be getting your Hollywood Studios day first, no matter when it's falling in your week that you're there. Yes. Hollywood Studios is the hardest park. I feel like even with lightning lanes and to that point, people ask us all the time, are

[00:44:23] there are there certain times of year that lightning lane is more valuable than other times of year? I mean, sure. What I would say is even if you're going during the lowest crowd time of the year, I think that lightning lane is still worth it because I want to get as much magic and fun out of my day before my kids are like, I've had it. And if I can skip the lines even on a low line day to be able to get more done, I feel good about that investment.

[00:44:48] But if you're going, I mean, in December, okay, like, yes, you should be buying lightning lanes. People say, is it worth it in Animal Kingdom? Yes. Buy the lightning lanes for Animal Kingdom if you're going towards the end of December. Yeah. Even, you know, even in lower times, you know, lower crowd times, still probably making that investment because getting rid of the lines just makes all the difference in the world. And the only other thing I really want to mention here, I think we covered a really

[00:45:15] good way to consider lightning lanes is a lot of people don't know what rider switch is. And this can totally make or break your trip. This can totally change your trip. Go ahead and explain that, Katie. Sure. So the rider switch service is if you have someone who is too small, they don't meet the height restriction or someone who just does not prefer to ride something. In that situation, you have to have your whole party together with you. Don't just send mom and the baby. Walk up together.

[00:45:40] There's going to be cast members at the front entrance of every single attraction and just explain, hey, we have some members of our family that aren't going to ride. You're going to talk to them about it. They're basically going to have the first half of your group go through. And then while one parent is out with the baby or with your shy rider, they can go hang out. They don't have to like stand in the queue with you and be fussing and whining for a ride that they're not going to ride. So the first group stands in the queue.

[00:46:09] The next group is going to get basically a lightning lane pass to go through quickly. So you're not waiting two times for the same attraction. And I like to say if you are that parent that's waiting with the rider switch, if you're waiting with the baby, you are not beholden to just like stand outside the line. Okay. You can go get a Mickey bar. You can go, if your family's on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, go take the baby on Winnie the Pooh, right? Like make the most of your time, even in a rider switch scenario.

[00:46:39] But like so many people come into this like, oh, there's the baby can't do it. So my other kids are going to have to forfeit it too. And that's not the case. Disney wants to add more magic to you. Disney has thought about all of these things and they're going to make it easy for you to do that. Yep. Absolutely. I would say rider switch mostly is coming up with kids who are kind of in that younger age range, right? You have littles and something else to keep in mind when you are going to Disney with those littles is being aware of height requirements ahead of time.

[00:47:08] You do not want to be the mom who's having to navigate a meltdown because your kiddo really, really wanted to go on Tron and you get there and they're an inch too short. There are so many situations that you could have avoided that by just looking at the height requirements. They're available. Your travel agent can help point you in the direction of it. They're available in the app. Know ahead of time, measure your kids with the shoes that they plan on wearing to the

[00:47:33] park and just know going in so that you can either one preemptively steer away from something you know that could cause a meltdown or two prepare them for what the situation may be. Maybe you're going to do a rider swap or switch and you're going to tell them during this time we're going to go do this special thing with you kind of idea so that it doesn't have to be the traumatic experience that it can be. I've had the trauma. I've had the trauma. And I'll tell you what, we did our best to pre-measure. We're always pre-measuring. I've brainwashed my children. They're always asking me to measure them.

[00:48:02] And then they're always like, okay, now what rides can I ride? And thank goodness we can ride everything at Disney at this point. Like, thank God we are to that point because the millis, what's smaller than a centimeter? A millimeter. A millimeter. Yeah. The millimeter that my son was too short for in Credit Coaster was the most heartbreaking Disney experience of all time. And, you know, we just misjudged the millimeter. I mean, you could put a hair between his head and the height stick. And that was it. That's terrible.

[00:48:32] It was terrible. Okay. Anything else on rides? That's four of our seven strategies. Anything else? I don't think. I mean, just reminding yourself that you can't do all of them. Like, choose the ones that are important to you and prioritize those because you're not going to be able to ride everything. Right. That's true, too. Well, before we head into our next three here, I want to remind everyone that these are all really good strategies. And another really good strategy is figuring out when is the best time to go to Disney.

[00:48:59] And if you join our friend Kayla's Facebook group at Family Vacations with Kayla, Disney, Universal Cruises, Hawaii, and more, you actually get a free guide just for joining that's going to tell you all about the best times to go to Disney World. That is top level strategizing. If you're planning with a big family, or maybe you've got a toddler who needs a nap and a teenager who's chasing thrills, or you're just tackling the park solo with multiple kids, that's exactly where Kayla's Facebook group comes in handy.

[00:49:28] And the first step to an easier Disney vacation just got easier. Just join so you can pick the right time to go by getting her free guide. That is Family Vacations with Kayla, Disney, Universal, Cruises, Hawaii, and more so you can skip the biggest crowds, avoid common mistakes, and plan a trip that's actually enjoyable for everyone. That is top level strategizing, joining a community where you can ask your questions and you can get your information and you can just have fun.

[00:49:54] I mean, I think we're all moms are at the point where Facebook is where we go to mingle and to have community and to talk about things and topics that we love. So make sure you give Kayla a join. You can click today's show notes to find her link as well. Okay, we've done schedules, resorts, transportations, and rides. All very, very important things. The next really stressful piece of planning? Dining. It's a lot. People stress about dining. People stress about knowing where to eat. People stress about knowing what to eat. People stress about knowing what's good to eat.

[00:50:24] Let me explain something about advanced dining reservations. And this is going to lead into the pro tip that I'm going to share. The way advanced dining reservations work, this is specifically for onsite guests, 60 days ahead of check-in plus 10 additional days is what your window looks like. So if I am checking in on September 1st, 60 days before that, I can start making reservations for September 1st through the 11th, right? That's going to cover most people's entire length of stay.

[00:50:51] Now, if you're staying more than 10 days, after that point, you're going to each day by day add that extra day because that's your plus 10 window. But for most people, it's going to cover your entire trip. Now, you have to remember, and this part gets confusing, the beginning of your stay is the end of somebody else's stay. So your day one is somebody else's day 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Their window for your starting day has been open a lot longer than what yours has been.

[00:51:15] Keeping that in mind, it may be really hard to get check-in day Topolinos because Topolinos is one of the hardest dining reservations to score and your day one is somebody else's day 10. So it may be difficult to get Topolinos on check-in day, but you know when you can probably get it? Checkout day because your day 10 is somebody else's day one and they haven't gotten to that day yet. So less people have been reserving for that day. So you have to think about your trip and when to place the hard-to-get reservations.

[00:51:43] And you can plan your park days around the dining reservations that you want if that is a very important factor to you. Yes. And it's not just the dining reservations. What else is going to open at that 60-day mark is going to be your enchanting extras. We're talking about the custom lightsaber bills at Savvy's. We're talking about Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique, fireworks dessert parties. All of those things open at the 60-day window too. So while you're thinking about, I want to eat at Ohana, I want to eat at Topolinos, all those things.

[00:52:12] You should also think about, wait, did I want to get that makeover for my kid? Were we going to build a lightsaber? You need to be thinking ahead about those things as well. But I want to alleviate some stress here too. So no lie, probably getting the advanced dining reservations might be the most stressful part of preparing for your trip, right? People have... Have you had people before that say, I'm not taking the trip unless we get a reservation

[00:52:40] at BBB and I'm like, okay, no pressure. I'll make sure I get that for you, right? It can kind of feel like do or die at that 60-day window. And let me just alleviate the pressure here a little bit. Yes, a lot of these hard to get reservations are going to book up at that 60-day mark. They will. And they'll be gone in seconds. Like you won't even have a moment to try to come back and think about it at the 60-day mark.

[00:53:05] But in that like week or so leading up to your trip when people are really thinking more about their itinerary and they're making plans and changes and they're like, I don't know if we really want to go do that anymore. There will be a lot of openings that come up last minute. So my advice is if you don't get a reservation that you really, really wanted at the 60-day mark, don't panic. Chances are pretty good that you could pick up a reservation at the last minute in that

[00:53:32] like week or day or two days leading up to it, even the day of. I have walked by Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique and they have one of those A-frame signs out front that say, we have walk-up availability. Come check in. So don't stress if you don't get the reservation. And if you want specifically Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique, and especially if you want it for more than one child, I would say you have to strategize that towards the end of your trip. You just, it's such, it's probably the single hardest thing to reserve in all of Disney World.

[00:54:01] And if you have multiple kids that you're wanting at the same time, just go ahead and don't make that your first park day of the day after check-in. Because the chances of getting three, two, three slots at the same time, very slim, but maybe on your fifth day, they'll all be there. So yes. Same for the lightsaber build or the droid build, like lots of great opportunities for those magical extras. But especially when it comes to the cancellation Katie's talking about, it's important for you to also know for your reservations, if you do change your mind, just make sure you

[00:54:30] cancel those at least two hours before your check-in time or else you're going to get charged a cancellation fee. And you don't need to do that. Just be aware of what you have coming up. And if you don't think you're going to make it, or you want to change your plans, either modify it or cancel it so that you don't get charged that fee. Yep. Yeah. Such good tips. Get the dining plan. You know, there's a quick service dining plan, the table service dining plan, and starting in 2027, the deluxe dining plan.

[00:54:56] That plan, I think you need to seriously want to do some signature dining and a lot of things. I think the deluxe dining plan is a very unique package add-on. The regular dining plan, I think I would almost venture to say almost fits everybody's vacation. I think you should be having at least one sit down a day, and that's roughly what it works out to. You need that break. And they don't all have to be super expensive, but the dining plan always pays for itself and then some in my experience. Yeah, especially if you have little kids with the promos in 2026.

[00:55:25] Like, talk with your travel agent on which one makes the most sense for your family. But I agree. The dining plan is kind of a no-brainer, and it takes away such a stress that doesn't need to be there when you can just know it's paid for ahead of time. Something else I think of when it comes to dining strategies is pre-planning your quick service meals using the My Disney Experience app in knowing you can pre-order. You can pre-order your quick service. You can schedule it.

[00:55:52] So going into the My Disney Experience app, knowing where you want to have your quick service options, and if you want to have things specifically, Woody's Lunchbox, you need to pre-order that. It's not going to be available to pick up in 30 minutes. You're going to be looking at an hour and a half to two hours from now in order to pre-order those kinds of things in the app. So using your My Disney Experience app to pre-order and look at menus and kind of think through what you're going to want. Don't spend your time in line trying to figure that out. Know ahead. Yeah.

[00:56:19] You just said Woody's Lunchbox, and it's 9 a.m., but I instantly was like, maybe after we're done recording today, we should go to Hollywood Studios. It's so awesome that you guys can be like, I'm craving tachos. We're going to Hollywood Studios. I'm jealous. Listen, you're welcome to come anytime you want. Yeah. All right. That feels good on dining, especially how to work your dining window, and I think that's something to really keep in mind.

[00:56:47] And know what restaurants you want to prioritize and know which restaurants that you want are difficult things to get, you know, and then be able to plan accordingly. Okay. Strategy number six, packing. Things to remember. Things to leave home. And of course, my number one packing tip that most M&Ms at this point know. But for those who have never heard me speak on the topic, the Ziploc bag method, and I will never stop talking about it.

[00:57:12] And so many, so many M&Ms have started using it, and they share it in our Facebook group. They share pictures, and they talk about how it works for their family. It's so good. Take a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, fold up your kiddos clothes for each day or each meal or whatever it is you're doing, and simply label it, you know, Becky's Magic Kingdom Tuesday or whatever it is. It is so easy to then find everything you need. It's all in one place. Hand your kiddo the bag. They're independently getting ready because you already made it easy for them to do that

[00:57:42] ahead of arrival. Your early morning where you need to get out of the room quickly is going to be so much less stressful when you just say, here's your bag. Get ready. Just try it. I'm telling you, just try it. It simplifies the entire thing. I had never done that before. We started organizing in that way. It really is a game changer. It works similar to like the packing cubes, but even more, and even level up version of packing cubes because packing cubes is still kind of grouping things in bigger ways. This is getting down to almost like the granular details of your packing. Yeah.

[00:58:12] We have packing cubes and we'll use packing cubes, but I'm like packing cubes, everything is still in one pile on space. And I'm thinking, oh, what goes with this? And which day is this? And I don't want to have to think about that. I just want to arrive and say, here it is. I mean, if you really love packing cubes, do the Ziploc bags and then put them in a packing cube. You know what I mean? Like packing cube for park outfits and that's, you know, that's fine. And packing cube for what that, bathing suits and swim stuff. They make packing cubes the size of a Ziploc.

[00:58:41] If you're conscious about single use plastics. Well, I actually have reusable clear bags now and you can write on each time. Oh, there you go. Yeah. It doesn't, you know, but anything that's clear and easy and small, that's what my recommendation is. Yeah. This section is also the one that I was hinting at, Allie. When you were talking about baby quip, baby quip is such a great game changer in this particular strategy because we're talking about packing and often packing, we think about clothes or we might be thinking about our park bag.

[00:59:11] But I was leaning in that baby quip kind of fits here because you don't want to have to pack the pack and play. You don't want to have to pack the double stroller with all of the attachments. Like you just want that to be there when you get there. And so I think baby quip is a really natural fit in this space. So if you are using baby quip, make sure you use code magic to save that $30. Have the toys, have the little thing that you know your baby loves brought to your room. No brainer. Park bag essentials. My number one is an external battery.

[00:59:38] But I have really leaned into the fuel rods at Disney World. I now have four of them that I have bought. They're the best. They don't charge quickly. They don't charge super efficiently, but it is free to swap them out. So you never have to die. Fuel rods just got an upgrade. And now I have the new one. You guys know. I usually carry around like my giant brick that I don't have to like recharge it for an entire week.

[01:00:04] And it's not these little like lipstick size ones anymore. They're called like the 10 max or something like that. And it's a little tiny brick that you can swap out. You can still get the tube. But yes, this is a new one in there. So now you can get like a smaller brick and it like speed charges and everything too. And I'm like, oh man, well, there you go. That's what you need. About a fuel rod is you buy it one time and it comes with all of the different cords that could possibly go with any phone that you have. Comes with that.

[01:00:35] And then, and they die, they die rather quickly. But as soon as it dies, you just put it back in the machine. You swap it out and it's free. And I bring them back with me every trip. Yep. Now I'm like, what the heck do I do with my big giant brick? Yeah. This is something I really say lean into. Like buy a fuel rod and then always swap it out. Buy two, you know, and then swap it out as you're charging. And then when you get close to a fuel rod station, renew them. It's going to make your life so much better because your phone battery is going to drain. You're going to take a zillion pictures.

[01:01:04] You're going to be using Lightning Lane. You're going to be on the My Disney Experience app. So your phone is going to die. It's not going to live through the day. It won't survive Disney. So you're going to need a way to charge it. And you can buy them in the park or you can buy them ahead of time. I know Amazon sells them. We have them on our list, all of those kinds of things. So no matter what the situation is, pre-planning or while you're in the park and you need to get it, definitely worth it. Okay. I think that's my best packing tip. That's my park bag must have.

[01:01:30] Maybe you have a really small folded up poncho, but honestly, I don't even know if I, we stopped bringing ours to be honest. We just get wet at this point. Yeah. Yeah. You can always escape the rain into stores and things, but if getting wet is a real, real deterrent to you, consider that. And maybe even a stroller cover because if babies happen to go down into a wet stroller, that would not be super fun. For me, the two things that I always make sure that I bring, cause I'm a plus size mom is chafing cream.

[01:01:58] Your life will be miserable if you're not used to the humidity of Florida and walking the amount of walking you will do in a Walt Disney world vacation. So anti-chafing cream. And then I also, at the end of the day, really, really care about letting my feet rest. So if there's something specific that helps your feet feel recharged, even if it's just lotion, like whatever it is that helps your feet maintain the amount of walking, give yourself that gift. Yep. For sure. I have entered a phase where since we're finished with a stroller and I have three kiddos,

[01:02:27] I am in a less is more Disney era. When I left on my really, really huge park day earlier this summer, I literally put, my wife didn't go with us in the morning. So it was just the four of us. I put four mini water bottles, like the small ones in my book bag. And I thought we'll drink these and then we'll just refill them at water stations. That worked fine. Y'all, we had plenty of water. They were easy and lightweight. We weren't lugging around four metal water bottles. You know, we just literally four. I think I actually threw an extra one in there just in case anybody was extra needed.

[01:02:56] We didn't have it, you know, but a couple of mini water bottles that we refilled. I threw a loaf of banana bread in there that I had bought at the Riviera. Good choice. That we had bought at the Riviera, you know, because I don't like hangry kids and mine get hangry. I get hangry. So just to take off the edge. And then my portable chargers, that was like it. It is it. I love this for you. Less is more era of parenting. Yeah. Yeah. Is the best. And sunglasses. My sunglasses. Like that was my entire park bag. I can't think of a single other thing I had in there. That's it. Mic drop. Everybody agrees. I'm just thinking. Yeah.

[01:03:27] Meds. Like I definitely would. Oh, my inhaler. I have an inhaler. An inhaler and some Tylenol. Yeah. Yeah. Tylenol and like maybe like a Pepto or Tums kind of thing can be helpful. Yeah. But even so less is more. Don't even bring the whole thing. Bring a couple for the day. You know, we're we're in that back to school era. And so my kids had to buy clear see-through pencil box that's like the zipper around it. And I was like, this would make the perfect like first aid kit for my park bag.

[01:03:56] So I put like all of our band-aids in it. The Tubs goes in it. The children's ibuprofen. The Benadryl. It's all in there. Leave it to Katie to turn her back to school lift into how can this help me on my Disney vacation? Facts. Yeah. It's true. It's really true. Okay. That feels really good about packing. Less is more. Make sure you steam your outfit to match the park you're in. Oh, my gosh.

[01:04:23] I was at Magic Kingdom this week in an Epcot shirt and I was like, this is wrong. Like don't wear your leopard print Mickey head to Magic Kingdom. Wear it to Animal Kingdom. You know? Or don't care about that and it's okay. You're going to be okay. Just saying. Okay. All right. Our very last strategy section here in our top seven things that are going to make your trip better is just this Magic Maker miscellaneous section. Our top tips to taking this dress away.

[01:04:52] What is it? What are yours? For me is probably the My Disney Experience app. If you do not spend even just 15 minutes getting familiar with the app before you go on your vacation, you're going to end up spending valuable vacation time stressing about something that does not have to be stressful. The My Disney Experience app is the opposite of stressful once you're familiar with it. It is your go-to when you're feeling stressed. Oh, my gosh. Where is the nearest bathroom? How long is the wait on Tiana's right now?

[01:05:20] Like all of those things are just an easy click away if you are familiar and comfortable navigating the My Disney Experience app. Yes. Where do I find a fuel rod? It's right there in the app. Yeah. Yeah. I think the magic word today for any M&M's listening is going to be familiar because I think that the most important thing ahead of your trip is to be familiar with layouts, with locations, with connection. You know, how do you get from A to B?

[01:05:48] Be familiar with this place you've never been if you've never been. Familiar enough that you're not going to try to go to Big Thunder Mountain and then Space Mountain and then Pirates because nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants to do that. And if you don't know why, if you heard me say that and you don't know why that's a bad idea, you are not familiar enough to build a park day that's going to be conducive to just a family, you know, enjoying a relaxing trip. Good call. We talked a little bit about park hopping and things earlier.

[01:06:14] And I feel like if you're that person that you want to do the four park challenge and you're a park warrior and you're like, we are making the most of this park hopper opportunity, right? I feel like so many people are like, oh my gosh, like I need park hoppers so I can do all the things. And you don't look at it from the other side of the coin, which is your park hopper is just the opportunity to give you flexibility in your day. I mean, it can be this thing that it's like, oh, we have to go here and here and here.

[01:06:43] But it could also be we spent the morning at Animal Kingdom and we had a great time. And then we went back to the hotel for the kids to get a break and go swim in the pool. And now we're kind of like, man, I'd really like to go see the fireworks. Park hoppers do not have to equal busy is what I'm trying to say. Park hoppers equal access. Park hoppers equal flexibility. So think of it in those terms too.

[01:07:08] If you want the flexibility to start your day in one place and end in another place, that's what park hopper is for you. Yeah, smart. And the weather can ruin things. The weather can cancel fireworks or cause Tinkerbell not to make her flight. And a park hopper means that you don't have to miss that. That if it doesn't work out for some reason on the day you intended, you can go another day. Yeah. Speaking of weather, time and time and time again in our group, directly with our clients, they watch the weather ahead of time.

[01:07:38] A strategy or tip to know about weather in Florida. It is going to change. It is not going to be the same. What it says in 10 days from now is not the same thing it's going to be in two days from now because it's just inevitable that it is going to change. And even if it says it's going to rain your entire time, it's likely that it's just going to rain for a portion of your day and use that time to go and see shows, to go back to your resort and rest. Like don't let your weather make or break your vacation and stay in the mindset that it's going to be magical no matter what the weather is.

[01:08:07] Ahead of my Riviera trip in June, we were checking the weather and it said rain every day and storms every day. I don't think we got a single drop of rain. And there are times of year where you will get rain every single day. That's like during hurricane season, late summer, early fall. It's going to rain every single day at Disney World. A lot of Halloween parties get canceled because of rain and storms. That's the thing that happens. Rain can only ruin your trip if you let it. Correct.

[01:08:35] I have been to Disney enough in the rain that I know this to be fact. It's not going to ruin your trip unless your mindset allows it to. If you just expect it and it is what it is, make it something fun and funny. I can't tell you how many times I've run from a monsoon at Disney World, you know, and my kids want to splash and whatever. You make it what it is and you don't let it ruin your time. You don't let weather impact if your trip was good or not.

[01:09:01] Our family was at the end of our Animal Kingdom Day and we were in line for Cali River Rapids, like expecting to go and get drenched. And it started that like monsoon raining. And so we were standing under the like awning or whatever over by Cali River Rapids for 20 minutes. And we were like, this is not going to let up. They're not going to like reopen the ride. So we should probably just head out. You guys, we were leaving the parks and in this area in front of the new Zootopia show was a particularly large puddle.

[01:09:30] And my kids were already in their swimmies and they were like, we're going to go splash in the puddle. And let me tell you, that was like the highlight of their day was that it monsoon rained and they got to go play in the puddle. And now every time we're in Animal Kingdom, they ask, is it going to rain today, mom? I don't like that. Yeah. I love that. It's not going to rain your trip unless you let it. When we were just at Blizzard Beach this last weekend, it had a torrential downpour because it is hurricane season right now.

[01:10:00] It rained for approximately 20 minutes, but the amount of water that fell from the sky in that 20 minutes is monumental enough to make an entire swimming pool of water, just like Katie is saying. And it has now become almost a family joke because basically every time we go to Blizzard Beach, that two o'clock to four o'clock time, maybe even one o'clock to four o'clock time, it's going to rain at some point. So just know that. I wish now had I thought about it, we would have gone at 4.30 or 5 and stayed till it closed at 8 p.m.

[01:10:29] Like that is wild that it's staying open that late or go earlier in the morning. And it's just becoming a laughing joke that our kids are like, yay, it's going to rain on us when we go to the water park. It's just a thing that we embrace at this point. It does not have to be the devastating thing that rain can be. It's simply not. As you're just looking at the forecast. It is simply not. Yeah. I guess our very last tip here to close this out, the Doc Strategies segment, prioritize memories over checking boxes. Checking boxes is not where the memories and the magic are going to lie.

[01:10:59] It's going to be in the moments that you allow to happen. And we say it all the time. And the reason we say it all the time is because it is the most pro of all of the tips. Absolutely. That's honestly it. So many people are like, I got to know this and this and plan this and have my itinerary down to the five minute mark. And honestly, if you do that, you're setting yourself up for a not magical time. If you slow down and take the pressure off and just take time to soak up the magic, that's going to be how you have the best time at Disney.

[01:11:28] This is such a great fun topic to discuss. This episode is for our M&Ms that just want to absorb information. Somebody probably had a notebook out and they were taking notes and making little asterisks with the tips. And truly, you don't need to plan every minute. You just need to know these strategies and these are enough. These are enough strategies. You know what my final tip is? Take your sunglass case. If you have prescription glasses, take your case and your external charger out of your

[01:11:55] bag as you go through security and hold it in front of you like this. And then you're going to buzz through and life is going to be a lot better. That's my pro tip. I love it. You said like this, Allie, because we are now a visual podcast. We're a visual podcast. If you're not watching, if you're not seeing Allie and you are only hearing Allie, like, what are you doing? Get into Spotify. Watch what we're saying and we're doing as we're doing this. It's so fun. I love spending time with y'all. All right. We're going to do a lightning lane and y'all better give me one word fast answers. Are you ready? That will never happen, but okay.

[01:12:24] It's going to happen this time. Best transportation. Wait, who's first? You didn't establish that. Becky. Becky, because you're a doubter. You're a naysayer. Becky first, then you. Okay. Best transportation. Skyliner. It's the Skyliner. That's the answer. Yeah, it's Skyliner. Most overrated snack. Mickey bar. Also Mickey bar. Wait. Popcorn. No. Oh, no. It's the popcorn. I'm here to hate on the popcorn. That's a ridiculous response. That's ridiculous. I would say churro. In Disney World for sure.

[01:12:54] I think so. Yeah. Yeah. You know what? Going back really fast to Skyliner, it's because you get a mental quiet break. You're in your own. So wait a minute. We needed one word responses and now you're going back to explain? We have our own rules. Whatever. Whatever. I just wanted to say that you get your own piece in a gondola. Whereas on the monorail, it's very crowded. She came to me and then came back and explained it. Okay. What's your must pack item? External battery. Yourself.

[01:13:23] I think you can just show up to the park and have a great time. Yep. I'm telling you, don't bring a darn thing. Oh, you need a charger. Best rainy day attraction. But you don't have to pack it. It's in the park for you. Just show up. Touché, Katie. Touché. Pack your magic band. Yeah. Have your Apple wallet. Yeah. Something. Yeah. Okay. Rainy day attraction. Best. Ooh. I think PhilharMagic might be an underrated rainy day attraction because it's like a

[01:13:51] good 20-ish minutes you're going to be out of the rain and you could come out and not even know that it rained while you were in there. Yeah. That's a good answer. I'm going to say Smuggler's Run. Ooh. Ooh. Because you get to be inside the whole time and now they've recently done the updates with baby Grogu and everything. And I think it's a great, great place to spend a rainy minute. Yeah. Similar thinking. Something like Ratatouille where you're primarily covered through the queue.

[01:14:18] There's a lot of sheltering and then indoors and it's probably going to be a long queue. And I think my mind went there because we did that during a really rainy day once. Okay. Best value snack. Katie is wrong. Popcorn is the best snack. Put it in a $12, $13, whatever it is at this point. Refillable and refill yourself for less than three bucks over and over and over throughout the entire trip. You're right. That is the best value for your money. And you know what's the best value for your personal joy?

[01:14:48] A Mickey balloon? What are you going for? A Dole Whip Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Oh. It was eight bucks of the happiest time ever. Ever. Even if it tastes like a Twinkie. We don't even care. Ew. I don't think it tastes like a Twinkie. Have you ever had a Twinkie? You've ever had a Twinkie? I've had a Twinkie. I don't think it tastes like it. I like popcorn for this because it's shareable and savory. And I think you can eat it for longer. And it's, you know, I just love popcorn, you guys. Best deluxe resort. Go.

[01:15:18] Grand Floridian. Wilderness Lodge. Thank you for saying my backup. It's Grand Floridian, but my backup is Boardwalk and Polynesian. And all of them. Just list them all, Allie. Allie just breaks the rules. It's fine. All right. And a good character meal for lunch. That's a hard one. Some only serve breakfast and dinner. Character meal for lunch. I'm going to say Crystal Palace. I think Crystal Palace for every meal is fantastic. Especially because you get to meet Winnie the Pooh later.

[01:15:49] Does Tusker House serve lunch, y'all? I think. Does it do the daybreak? I think it does lunch. And so that's going to be my answer because I love Tusker House. My answer is Garden Grill. Garden Grill. That's two words, Katie. That's two words. All right. That was fun. We gave some people some really good strategies. Your trips are going to be better because you listened to this. Re-listen to it and take notes. And make sure if you haven't listened to Sleepiest, Happiest, Sneeziest, make sure you're in there listening to all of our Dwarf 7 episodes. We've got a couple more coming your way.

[01:16:19] We've got to work our way all the way through. This is a super fun series. I'm loving doing it with everybody. If you are a note taker, you should come check out our guides. And you should send this episode to somebody that you know because this is a really, really good one. Yeah. You should be sending this episode to somebody you know is planning or is stressed about planning because it's going to change their mind and make life easier. And to Katie's point, we have guides that are unbelievable. It's like this episode maximized in specific topics and they're beautifully done by Carla

[01:16:48] with tons of information. So if there is, let's just say one strategy section that we talked about today that has you really overwhelmed, there's probably a guide for that. You can go through and you can have the deepest breakdown on that topic. Check out our guide shop. You can get the link in the bio today. All right. That's going to do it for us. Another episode of the Moms Behind the Magic. Make sure you're in our community because if you have a question about any of these topics or anything we didn't cover today, you can get your answer inside that community, either from one of us or from one of our other amazing M&Ms within the community.

[01:17:17] Until next time, we're sending you tons of fun, love, and joy. And we'll see you real soon. Like, is it gibberish to you? I was about to say we're pounding out another dwarf and that just like went so many wrong ways. Yup. Mistakes were made. We're covering a dwarf here. I can't hear someone's dog. Mine.

[01:17:45] I wonder if Stacy can kill that sound, right? Unless you're pole dancing in the middle of the night on the open monorail, then that might be the best. Get too early to give a magic word for our M&Ms. I'm telling you why. We'll see if that sticks. Because you and Sean play with a headboard, I feel like I've got it. Katie is bright red. Welcome to our visual podcast. Yeah. Hi, guys. I'm just going to drink some water. Okay. Okay.